Extreme Weather & Highway Erosion

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Ohio roads must handle weather extremes that other states may never experience.

Muskingum County Engineer Mark Eicher explained some of the ways that weather deteriorates local roadways. 

“Freeze and thaw cycles have a lot to do with the condition of the roads. You have areas where you have like a wet weather spring you know. Then it gets… it freezes, it thaws, it freezes and it thaws. And it expands and contracts, that’s why you see the undulations in the roadways. Because that expansion and contraction of the soils underneath the road. That’s what causes all the issues that we have,” Eicher said.

Changes in the roadbed along with surface wear and tear often lead to potholes. And salt is a harsh compound that is used to melt snow but it eats away at everything it touches. 

“The main thing that affects our bridges basically is the salt that we put on the roads,” Eicher said. “That eats… that deteriorates our bridges. That will deteriorate not only our concrete and our steel bridges. It’s just the salt that is detrimental to our bridges, altogether. That freeze and thaw, you know there’s expansion and contraction in bridges. We have expansion joints. So as it freezes or expands in the summer or contracts in the winter, those types of expansion and contraction also are detrimental to the actual structure. But you got to have it, you know.” 

Many roads are built along creek banks and seasonal flooding can erode the ground from underneath as well as wash away debris that can latch onto bridges, which takes maintenance and repair well beyond just winter snow removal.